Schubert: Arpeggione Sonata for Cello, Schumann: 5 Stücke in Volkston & Debussy: Cello Sonata

When he first heard Mstislav Rostropovich's full-throated, passionate playing, composer and pianist Benjamin Britten was knocked sideways. The two became fast friends and the Englishman composed some of his most adventurous works for the great Russian cellist. But equally rewarding testimonies to this meeting of two creative titans of the twentieth century are these vividly recorded performances of diverse cornerstones of the piano and cello repertoire: Schumann's engaging miniatures, Schubert's alternately haunting and charming Arpeggione sonata, and one of the three valedictory sonatas that helped the great French composer Debussy transcend the agonies of his final illness.